


Little Miss Communication

by dragonashes



Series: Quintessence: Undertale One-shots [23]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Adult Frisk, Angst, Anxiety, F/M, Spoilers - Undertale Pacifist Route
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-21
Updated: 2017-05-21
Packaged: 2018-11-03 04:04:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10959270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonashes/pseuds/dragonashes
Summary: Sans and Frisk have been dating for a couple months, and things are going well.  That's probably why Frisk is so surprised by some accusations about the nature of their relationship.Takes place several years after the barrier fell.





	Little Miss Communication

**Author's Note:**

> Just so we're clear: both Frisk and Sans are adults in this story. Frisk is in her early 20s, with Sans a few years older. The age difference doesn't really come into play, but there you go.

Frisk eyed herself in the mirror, face half-turned away.  The bruise from the doorframe (who  _ runs into a doorframe? _ ) was almost gone, healed by magic and time, but the remainder stubbornly kept showing through her makeup.

Oh, well.

It’s not like Sans would notice, anyways.  He was a great boyfriend, but not really the most...observant.  It was a little annoying sometimes, but no one is perfect, right?  That thought helped Frisk tamp down on the guilt she felt, using his flaws to hide her mistakes.

He’d just worry if he saw, anyways.  He cared about her; not as much as he cared about Papyrus (family comes first, and Frisk wasn’t really family) but enough.  And Frisk had seen first-hand what happened to anyone who messed with Papyrus.

With one last glance in the mirror, Frisk grabbed her purse and shoes and stumbled out of the house.  The drive over to the brothers’ house took only about ten minutes, so despite the bad weather she didn’t feel justified asking Sans to use a shortcut.  Despite his protests to the contrary, she guessed it took a lot of energy out of him.  He didn’t use his shortcuts very often, after all, and when he did it was mostly...well.  Mostly for her.

Frisk felt her cheeks heating.  He really was a good boyfriend.  She couldn’t even count all the little things Sans did for her, from leaving her flowers to using shortcuts to bring her home after work to taking her on impromptu dates when she was feeling down.  It was one area where he always seemed to be entirely on-point: he always seemed to somehow know her mood, and was surprisingly good at adjusting his own behavior accordingly.

She smiled and eased her car into a smooth stop outside the brothers’ house.  Yeah, Sans was the  _ best. _  Sure, he wasn’t big on physical contact, but that wasn’t why she was dating him.  And if he sometimes needed a day or two to himself, well, didn’t everyone?  He always seemed so happy to see her again after he sorted himself out, and tended to be almost clingy.  Well, for him.  He usually hugged her, sometimes twice!  And rarely let her out of his sight!

She checked her phone one more time on her way up to the door.  Sans hadn’t texted her back after she confirmed her arrival time; maybe he was in a mood again.  He usually let her know when he was feeling that way, though.  Papyrus would know, right?

Frisk knocked on the door and listened for the usual tussle as the skeleton brothers decided who would open the door.  Nothing.  She felt her stomach drop.  She was just reaching into her purse for the lockpicks Sans had given her when…

“...Human Frisk?”  Papyrus stood in the doorway, looking more nervous and distressed than she had ever seen him.

“Papyrus?  What on Earth is wrong?”

“I...please do not be angry.  I-I can explain-”  He muttered and rubbed his gloved hands.

Directness was usually the best way to reach the big guy.  “Papyrus, calm down, okay?  I’m not angry.  I’m very worried right now because I don’t know what’s going on, but can we talk about it inside?”

“Oh!  Right!  Humans are not built for rain.”  He lingered in the doorway awkwardly, as if not sure he actually wanted to let her inside, before finally shuffling out of the way.

Frisk stepped inside carefully, keeping her footsteps soft.  “Thanks.  Now what’s wrong?  I don’t understand why you’re being so…”  _ Un-Papyrus-like _ “...quiet.”

“Oh.”  He paused, shifted, and glanced briefly towards the staircase that led up to the bedrooms.  “I...Sans is sleeping.”

That was a surprise.  “I...see.  I thought...we did make plans for this evening, but if he’s tired-”

“No, no, wait!  I have an idea!”  He grabbed both of her hands, vibrating in place with an energy very different than his usual self-confidence.  “I...I can go out on a date with you!  Yes!  That’s the perfect solution!  My brother can sleep, and you can get your date!”

“That’s...not the way it works, Papyrus.”

“What?  Why not?”

“Well...I’m dating Sans.  It’s not that you’re not a great guy - you’re the greatest! - but dating is a special kind of relationship.”

“I...do not understand.”

Frisk extracted her hands and sighed.  “You only date one person at a time, Papyrus.  It’s an exclusive relationship.  I’m not going to cheat on Sans with his own brother; that would be extremely disrespectful to both him and you.”  Okay, so humans definitely had exceptions to that rule, but she didn’t want to confuse the poor guy.  Besides,  _ she _ was a one-skeleton girl.

“Then...can he please have a break from the dating?”

“Um, what?”

“Don’t be angry!”

“I’m not angry; I’m confused.  Why do you think Sans needs a break from dating?”  She mentally ran through her most recent interactions with Sans.  He’d been a little more distant lately, but not so much that it threw up any red flags.  He’d seemed tired, but he’d been working overtime in the Core again.  He’d been looking forward to spending some time off with his brother and his friends.  He hadn’t said anything about his relationship with her; in fact, he’d seemed excited about their plans.

“B-because...hasn’t he done enough?  For you, I mean?  I...I just thought he would have paid you back by now.”

_ “What?” _  She tried to keep her voice down - she really did - but some distant part of her mind recognized that she was starting to panic.  The low-level anxiety that had been simmering since she realized the house was too quiet skyrocketed.  “Pay me back for what?  Why do you think Sans owes me?  We’re  _ dating. _  He doesn’t owe me anything!”

“Oh!”  Papyrus relaxed and gave her a true smile for the first time that evening.  “Then you’ll let him stay home?  You won’t ask him to go on his date?”

“Um, no, Papyrus.  Dating...it goes both ways.  Sans doesn’t have to do  _ anything _ he doesn’t want to.”

“Really??”

“Really.  People date because they like each other!”

Papyrus looked confused.  “Then...why did you make him date  _ you?” _

Coming from any other person, that would have been insulting.  This, though...this was  _ Papyrus. _  He wouldn’t know the definition of an insult if it hit him square in the face.  He sounded honestly confused...and that  _ hurt. _

“I-I didn’t-”

“You did!  You told him he had to date you because of your bet!”

“No, I-”

_ The kitchen table, covered in cards and bottle caps.  Thin, bony hands tapping lazily against the wood. _

_ “looks like i’m out.  what do i owe ya?” _

_ “T-take me out for dinner, and we’ll call it even.”  Crossed fingers, hoping against hope that he wouldn’t laugh. _

_ A long pause.  “...sure, kid.  lemme grab my jacket.” _

Their first date.  Right after a card game.

“I-I never meant…”

That stupid,  _ stupid _ card game.  She’d been so proud to have finally beaten Sans at poker, especially when he’d been flagrantly cheating the entire time.  She’d thought he’d just laugh off her demand for a date, not acquiesce.  Not actually engage her in intelligent conversation.  Not ask if he could take her out again sometime.

“...Human Frisk?”

Frisk looked up, trying to blink back the tears.  “I...I asked him for  _ a _ date.  He didn’t have to agree.  Even if he thought he did, he only, uh, ‘owed’ me  _ one _ date.  Papyrus, he didn’t  _ have _ to date me.  You know that, right?   _ He _ knows that, right?”

He stared at her, confusion returning.  “Um, no?  You never said that the debt was paid.  Or that’s what he told me last night, when I asked him why he could not relax and take a break from the exhausting dating.”

“I...didn’t realize he needed me to say it.  He never mentioned anything.”  She made a mental note to text Sans later.  This  _ had _ to all be a big misunderstanding.  They’d explain things to Papyrus, explain that they really were fine together and that Frisk wasn’t demanding a relationship from Sans in some weird and creepy bet gone horribly wrong.

“Nyehehe!  That’s my brother for you!  He constantly keeps things to himself.  But now that you know, you will tell him that his debt is paid, right?  You’ll let him sleep and won’t make him go out to the greasy non-Grillby’s burger place, right?”

“Yeah, I’ll let him…”

Sans wasn’t sleeping.  He was at the top of the staircase, staring down at the scene below him with wide, dark eye sockets.  As soon as Frisk glanced up, he stumbled back half a step and raised a hand in a gesture that made her gut clench.

A gesture of fear.  A gesture of self-defense.

He was... _ afraid _ of her.

She glanced away quickly.  “Thanks, Papyrus, for clearing that up.  I’ll be going now.”

“What?  Wait!  Human Frisk-”

She heard the door slam shut behind her but couldn’t recall if she’d pulled it shut herself or if it had been closed by some other means.  She was moving a bit faster than she intended; instead of planting her feet firmly on the steps at the end of the brothers’ front porch, she barely clipped them with one heel.  The change in momentum sent her sprawling on the front walk, cement digging harshly into both palms and one of her knees.

She pushed herself up roughly and staggered to her car.  Car door open, car door closed, lock engaged.  Deep breaths.  Too quick; slow down.  Deep, deep breaths.

Eventually she calmed down enough to drive.  Neither brother, thankfully, had followed her outside.  She pulled out quickly, seeing that she had a clear road behind her, and made her way back home.

It wasn’t until she was inside her own home with the door locked that she noticed the blood.  The scrapes on her palms weren’t deep but they were messy.  She hissed as she ran cool water over them, rubbing them gently in an attempt to clear out any debris.  There didn’t seem to be much; Papyrus kept his front walk very clear.  She glanced down.  Her skirt was fine, but her leggings were torn over one knee.  The damage to her knee didn’t look as bad as her hands but she must have caught part of the gravel along the edge of the walk.  There were a few tiny stones embedded in the skin that stung horribly when she removed them.

The pain was a good distraction from her situation, but it didn’t last nearly long enough.  Eventually it ebbed to a dull ache, leaving her mind frustratingly clear.

Sans...had dated her because of some imagined  _ gambling debt? _

Part of her was furious.  There was  _ literally nothing _ stopping him from explaining himself.  If he didn’t want to fulfill what he saw as his end of their ‘bargain,’ well, he just had to say something, right?  It wasn’t like that would have been unusual.  He and Frisk played poker all the time, and Sans (the cheater!) frequently demanded that she do something embarrassing as a forfeit when she lost.  If she complained, he  _ always _ offered her an alternative.   _ He _ never said that Frisk’s debt was paid.

Her mind stuttered at the thought.  Did...did Sans still think that  _ she _ owed  _ him? _  Was he angry about his ‘forced’ dates?  Was he going to try to get revenge, now that she...that she…

Trying not to think, she eased her phone out of her purse.  No texts from Sans or Papyrus.  She couldn’t help but feel a little betrayed.  With shaking fingers, she tapped out a message to Sans.

_You 7:18 PM_  
The debt is paid.

It sounded...cold.  Impersonal.  What would Sans think?

She nearly dropped her phone when it buzzed a few seconds later.

_Sans <3 7:19 PM_  
k

...What?  Was that  _ it? _  Almost two months of dating, and he didn’t even have the guts to explain himself?

_ Of course he didn’t.  Skeletons don’t have guts. _

It wasn’t as funny when it didn’t come from Sans.

Well...fine, then.  Frisk didn’t need him.  She had freed all of monster-kind from a few hundred years of slavery with nothing but DETERMINATION and a pointy stick.  She was fine on her own.

Her phone buzzed again.  She was almost afraid to look, but hope bubbled up nonetheless.

_Mom 7:20 PM_  
My child?  I heard that you and Sans are experiencing a break-up.  Are you quite alright?  Do you need a pie or a shoulder to cry on?

Well, THAT was fast.  How had…?

Oh.  Right.  Frisk opened her UnderNet app.  She’d turned the notifications off...gosh, probably almost a year ago, back when Alphys discovered Mew Mew Kissy Cutie was getting another sequel.  She usually used her computer to access the site; she had too many friends for a small screen.

A moment’s scrolling revealed a several strings of posts she’d missed over the past few hours since she left the Embassy.  The most recent was related to a single status update from...Papyrus.

> CoolSkeleton95: Great news!  My brother is no longer dating the human!

 Yes, this was going to be painful.

>  ALPHYS: Papyrus, lol, that’s rude
> 
>  CoolSkeleton95: No it’s not!  My brother is now free of his bad decisions and can live unburdened by debt!
> 
>  StrongFish91: Papyrus, stop!  The humans can read what you post!
> 
>  ALPHYS: OH NO THE HUMANS CAN READ ALL THE POSTS I MADE PRAISING THE NEW MEW MEW SPINOFF BEFORE I REALIZED IT WAS GOING TO BE DIRECTED BY SOMEONE WITH NO RESPECT FOR THE STORYLINE
> 
>  ALPHYS: I AM COMPLETE TRASH
> 
>  ALPHYS: FRISK IF YOU’RE READING THIS I DIDN’T MEAN IT
> 
>  ALPHYS: I DIDN’T MEAN ANY OF IT
> 
>  CoolSkeleton95: I meant all of it!
> 
>  StrongFish91: PAPYRUS, STOP!!!
> 
>  CoolSkeleton95: Why?  Human Frisk already knows the error of her ways!  We just had a decisive talk at my house when she was trying to lure my brother off to another ‘date.’
> 
>  CoolSkeleton95: I’m not sure why you think I have no tact?  I am merely looking out for all my friends.
> 
>  StrongFish91: THAT WAS A PRIVATE MESSAGE YOU PUNK, REPLY IN THE PRIVATE MESSAGE WINDOW!!!
> 
>  StrongFish91: DON’T REPLY AS A RESPONSE TO YOUR OWN STATUS UPDATE!!!

 The message chain had ended barely a few minutes before.

Well, there went her personal life.  She felt her cheeks burn, and brushed away a few angry tears that leaked out.  Papyrus really didn’t have a sense of tact; his status update was public.  Every monster in the Underground probably knew by now what a horrible person their ambassador was.  Worse, she knew that the human media had infiltrated the UnderNet over the past few years; this was going to be all over the news.

This didn’t just affect Frisk herself.  She’d deliberately tried to keep her budding relationship with Sans under wraps for a reason.  It was easy, at first, when they were just dating (could she even consider them dates, now??) casually and no one really knew where to draw the line between ‘dating’ and ‘two friends hanging out.’  Once Alphys took a picture of them together with exclamations and emojis conveying how cute she thought ‘the new couple’ was together, it had made international news.  Sans hadn’t talked to her for nearly a week, completely thrown by the sudden attention.  He’d be dragged through that again, now.

On a larger scale, there were politicians just  _ waiting _ for a sign of weakness in the Monster Kingdom.  It wasn’t that any of them hated monsters in particular; it was just politics as usual.  As a sovereign nation, the Kingdom of Monsters had been thrust into the rocky and explosive landscape of human governments with all the tentative alliances and subtle hostilities that implied.  Frisk had gotten some very pointed comments from friends and foes alike in the political arena when her relationship went public.  She didn’t want to imagine what her email and voicemail looked like now.

Her phone vibrated again.

_Mom 7:30 PM_  
My child, are you alright?  Are you engaging in mourning activities?  I can leave you be if you want.

The offer was tempting.

_You 7:32 PM_  
Thanks, but I think we need to meet up to discuss the fallout.  I don’t want the Kingdom of Monsters to suffer for my mistakes.

_Mom 7:34 PM_  
You do not mean that, my child.  I shall be over within the hour with fresh pie.  I was already baking when I got the message.

Translation: Frisk’s mom and dad had been planning their own date night, and this news had ruined their plans.  Their own fledgeling attempts to repair their relationship were being put on hold to fix their daughter’s mistakes.

Again.

_You 7:35 PM_  
You really don’t have to, Mom.  I’ll be fine.

_Mom 7:37 PM_  
I insist!  I shall see you soon.

Guilt flooded her.  She wanted...well, she wanted to text Sans, she realized.  He had been so supportive and  _ kind _ to her over the past few months.  They’d been friends for years, ever since the Underground, but they’d become even closer while dating.  That...couldn’t all be a lie, right?  There had to be  _ some _ basis for his actions that was actually grounded in genuine affection, or none of this made sense.

But then...why had he looked so  _ frightened _ back at his house?  Even if it was some kind of impulse reaction, even if he’d been reacting to something other than Frisk’s realization that their relationship was based on a lie, why had he not cared enough to explain himself?  Or to try to reschedule their evening out?  Or to see if Frisk was alright?

Sans  _ always _ knew when Frisk was upset.  It was uncanny.

When had he stopped caring?

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I was feeling sad this week. Sorry about all the angst and politikz that got caught up in my sad little romance. Let me take care of that. *Brushes angst dust off workspace*
> 
> In unrelated news, my queue of stories to post is _very_ thin right now, but I aim to keep posting. I am putting up existing stories over on [Tumblr](https://dragonasheswrites.tumblr.com/), where you can ask any questions you want. Heck, even if they're not story-related questions!
> 
> I am very close to finishing two longer works: my novel-length monstrosity, and a shorter story that will probably be quite sad. That shorter story is being polished and the last few blanks are being filled in. (These are the trials of a one-shot writer trying to put together a longer story: it's a bit like putting together a patchwork quilt. It takes some effort to make all the edges line up the way you want.) Coming soon to an AO3 near you!


End file.
